• travel

    Dogs Dogs Dogs

    I know I’ve said this before and before that and before that too! (Enough about the dogs already, right?) But going up north to visit the family is really all about the dogs.

    We often sit in the family room talking and before we know it we are playing complicated games of fetch with the long haired dachshund. He’s too smart. He’s attached to this little blue rubber ball as if it’s his pacifier or something. You can ignore him but he will “accidentally” drop the ball on your feet and bark at you until you can ignore him no longer. Throwing the ball is a mistake because then it means the “games have begun” and you will be stuck playing fetch with him for hours on end. So in order to give us some peace from the never ending fetching and barking we hide the ball in places we think he won’t be able to get it out of.

    Nothing works. No matter how well you hide it, or ignore it, he will bark and root around until he finds it. Toby’s Dad stacked the ball inside three empty dog food bowls and he STILL found his ball. It took a lot of pushing the bowl around the living room with his nose but nothing comes between the determined little German dog and his little blue rubber ball.

    Too bad I didn’t get any action shots and all I have to show you are some cute dogs sleeping.

    We did take some pictures of this giant mosquito eater. I’d have to ask my Dad, the bug man, what it’s proper name is. It was so huge! I’ve never seen a mosquito eater that big. Maybe he got so big from eating all the mosquitos! They are out in droves this year. Even in the middle of the day you have to watch it or you could get bitten to pieces.

    The sun came out for a little bit yesterday. Actually it was setting and there was a little gap between the fog and the ocean where the sun managed to shine through. I took advantage of the pretty light and got some pictures of my mother-in-law’s beautiful dahlias.

    p.s. I finally updated the spy cam pages! Whoo Hooo! Happy Viewing!

  • travel

    A Day at the Lake

    The guys and I went to Ruth Lake on Saturday. (The guys being: Toby, Toby’s brother and his dog, Tuff) It was a perfect day. Not too hot, not too cold but just right! We had to drive two and a half hours inland to escape the fog and dampness that shrouds the coastal town of Eureka. But it was totally worth it. There is something about the smell of the pine and bark and the water and the mountains that envelopes you and you immediately remember that this is what vacation smells like. We sped off in Toby’s Dad’s fishing boat to the family boat lease to enjoy a day at the Cove.

    When we got to the Cove, Toby and his brother went right to work, limbing trees and clearing brush for the cabin that’s going to be built some day soon. Last year I spent a lot of time helping them clear brush and pulling up some old tubing that was stuck in the creek. But this year I got to laze around on the shore, read a book and take a nap because I’m pregnant. Everybody spoils the pregnant lady.

    While we were there, we saw a bald eagle and two ospreys (commonly known as a fish hawk) fighting in the blue sky right over our heads. Apparently, bald eagles don’t catch their own fish to eat. They just steal it from ospreys. So two ospreys got tired of that pirating behavior and ganged up on the bald eagle. It was quite a ruckus. They dive bombed it and even plucked out some of the bald eagle’s feathers. One feather even floated down to us. I guess you can get put in jail for holding a feather of the national bird.

    I also caught a fish! Just a little spotted blue gill but still it was fun. As Toby’s brother said, I caught the biggest fish, the littlest fish, the ugliest fish and the prettiest fish! In other words, I caught the only fish of the day. We got quite a few nibbles on our bait but nothing very exciting. It still made a perfect day more perfect. Then we let the fish go and Toby took a shot of me fishing and looking pregnant so someday I can tell my kid, “See there you were at the lake before you were born.” I love looking at old pictures of my mom when she was pregnant with me.

    As the sun began to dip behind the tree covered mountains and the shadows crept across the lake, we pulled ourselves away and headed home. It’s always tough to leave the lake because it’s just so pretty there at sunset. But we can’t leave too late because it’s a good long drive to get back to town. One of these days we want to camp over night.